The card counting conundrum

Over the next decade this strategy was further refined by various mathematicians using modern and ever more powerful computers. Exhaustive programs were written that played every possible Blackjack hand randomly against every possible dealer’s up-card millions of times each.

The creator of these advanced programs, Julian Braun of IBM Corporation, then expanded his programs to account for the effect that minor rule changes had on the outcome of particular hands. Through analysis of the results Braun engineered an accurate and definitive basic playing strategy, which could be varied to suit whichever set of rules one happened to be playing to. For the serious players, Braun then devised a series of memory charts that indicated how basic strategies of play could be modified according to the composition of the cards remaining to be dealt before the next shuffle. It was these strategies that gave birth to the modern counting systems that subsequently evolved.

Following publication of Thorp’s book, the rules of Las Vegas casinos were tightened in favour of the house and some sceptics predicted the end of Blackjack as we know it. However after a short period where the popularity dipped, the rules became relaxed in favour of the gambler once more. It became obvious to casino managers and owners that only a tiny percentage of Blackjack players actually used the playing systems now available and even fewer employed a viable playing system.

To alienate the entire Blackjack-loving public in a bid to protect themselves from the occasional card-sharp simply did not make financial sense. That it is more difficult for an unskilled player to win at blackjack than it was before is no doubt the case, however, truly studious players still enjoy a significant advantage over the dealer.